Precious metal funds recorded the fourth-largest inflows ever in the week to Wednesday and investment-grade funds sucked in money, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday, as rising trade tensions and global growth concerns prompted a dash for safe havens.
Within equities, United States stocks funds suffered $15.2 billion in outflows in the same week, the most since December 2018, while emerging equity funds saw the biggest outflow since August 2015 at $6.2 billion, said BAML citing EPFR data.
The moves follow a tumultuous week in global markets, with China letting its yuan fall past the 7-per-dollar level marking the latest salvo in a trade dispute between Beijing and Washington and fresh fears emerging about a global economic pullback.
The yuan's slide on Monday contributed to $12.4 billion exiting global equity funds, the 12th largest ever daily outflow from global equity funds, according to the data. The volatility pushed investors to assets viewed as safe. A total of $2.3 billion poured into precious metal funds. $11 billion has now shifted into gold in the past 10 weeks, the biggest inflow since Brexit in 2016, BAML said.
As high-yield bond funds experienced the biggest outflow since December 2018, investment-grade bond funds notched up their 29th week of inflows, pulling in $6.7 billion.